The 2003 Slate 60: Top Donations

The 2003 Slate 60: Top Donations

The 2003 Slate 60: Top Donations

The 60 largest American charitable contributions of the year.

Donors Who Gave $25 Million or More

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Joan B. Kroc—a bequest of $1.91 billion to 10 organizations. Kroc, who died on Oct. 12, 2003, at age 75, was the widow of Ray A. Kroc, the founder of the McDonald's Corp. Her gifts were: $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army, in Alexandria, Va., to construct and endow up to 50 recreational and educational facilities across the United States; $200 million to National Public Radio to support the network's operating reserves and endowment; $60 million to Ronald McDonald House Charities to be distributed to its programs worldwide; $50 million to the University of Notre Dame to support the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; $50 million to the University of San Diego to establish the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice; $20 million to San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care to support its programs and services; $10 million to the San Diego Opera to support artistic programming; $5 million to KPBS radio and television, in San Diego, to establish an endowment and operating reserve and create a capital-equipment fund; $5 million to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Diego to build a high school; and $500,000 to Mama's Kitchen, a meal-delivery service in San Diego for people with AIDS. Before her death, Kroc gave $5 million to the University of San Diego to endow a lecture series at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.

Michael S. and Susan Dell— $673.7 million to the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Michael Dell, 38, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell, in Round Rock, Texas, and his wife, Susan, chief executive officer of the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, in Austin, and president of Susan Dell, a clothing company, gave $673.7 million in Dell stock to the foundation, which supports childhood-development programs. In 2003, the organization gave 36 grants of $30,000 each during the Thanksgiving holiday to nonprofit organizations. The Dell foundation joined with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in giving $55 million in grants to support public education in Texas. Since it was established in 1999, the Dells have donated $1.2 billion in Dell stock to their organization. The foundation awarded $20 million in grants in 2003 and had $1.1 billion in assets at the end of the year.

Eli and Edythe L. Broad— $409 million to the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Broad Art Foundation. Eli Broad, 70, chairman of AIG Retirement Services, formerly SunAmerica, and his wife, Edythe, 67, gave $266 million to Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation, in Los Angeles, which supports medical research and other causes, primarily in California. The Broads also contributed $76 million to the Broad Foundation, in Los Angeles, which supports efforts to improve public elementary and secondary schools, and $67 million to the Broad Art Foundation, in Santa Monica, Calif., which seeks to foster public appreciation of contemporary art by lending its collection of artworks to museums.

John A. (Jack) Jackson—$247 million to the University of Texas at Austin. Jackson, a retired gas and oil executive who died in 2003 at age 89, pledged his estate, in 2002, to the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin following his death. Jackson estimated his estate's value at between $150 million and $200 million, but as it was being settled the university determined it was worth at least $247 million. Jackson's gift could actually be worth much more than $247 million, according to university officials, because one-third of the estate includes current and potential royalties in gas and oil reserves. Jackson graduated from the university in 1940 with a bachelor's degree in geology.

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Frank Sr. and Jane Batten—$141.2 million to eight organizations. Frank Batten, 77, retired chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications, in Norfolk, Va., which owns the Weather Channel and several other media properties, and his wife Jane, 66, gave $32 million to Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, for research and to endow faculty chairs. The couple also gave $32 million to the Harvard Business School, from which Frank Batten graduated in 1952, for capital improvements. In addition, the couple gave $11.2 million in stock to Virginia Wesleyan College, in Norfolk, to support academic scholarships and professorships and $2.2 million to Hollins University, in Roanoke, Va., to support an endowed chair. Jane Batten graduated from the university in 1958, and Frank Batten served on the Hollins board of trustees from 1969 to 1991. The couple also gave $20.5 million to the Norfolk Foundation to establish the Batten Educational Achievement Fund to support educational, recreational, developmental, and enrichment programs in the region over the next 15 years. Additionally, the couple gave $11.3 million to the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., to endow the school of business, and $11.2 million to the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation, in Norfolk, to support and expand a program that provides college-advising services and scholarships to local high-school students. Frank Batten co-founded the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation and was a member of the College of William and Mary's board of visitors. In 2003, the Battens also gave $20.8 million to the Culver Academies, in Indiana, to support academic programs, the faculty, and technology procurement, and to provide scholarships. Frank Batten graduated from the boarding school in 1945.

Robert Edward (Ted) Turner— $128 million to the U.N. Foundation, Better World Fund, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Brown University, the Citadel, and McCallie School. Turner, 65, founder of CNN and Turner Broadcasting System and chairman of Turner Enterprises, fulfilled a part of his pledge to the U.N. Foundation, in Washington. The gift, $60 million in stock, goes toward fulfilling the $1 billion pledge he made to the organization in 1997. He also gave $20 million to the Better World Fund, in Washington, which he created to educate people about the work of the United Nations, and $45 million in stock and cash to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, which works to reduce the global threat posed by nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Turner co-founded the organization in 2001. He also gave stock valued at $1 million to the Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C. This unrestricted gift will likely be used for scholarships and capital improvements. Turner also gave stock valued at $1 million to the McCallie School, a college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tenn. According to a school spokesman, the gift will be used for capital improvements. Turner is a 1956 graduate of the school. Turner also gave stock valued at $1 million to Brown University. He attended the university but did not graduate.

Jane Bancroft Cook—$127 million to Jane's Trust. Bancroft Cook, an heir to the family that founded Dow Jones and Co. and a former board member of the company, who died in 2002 at age 90, gave $127 million to establish Jane's Trust, in Boston, a charitable trust. The trust will support the arts, education, the environment, health, and welfare projects in Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Paul G. Allen— $100 million to the Allen Institute for Brain Science. Allen, 51, co-founder of Microsoft and founder and chairman of the investment firm Vulcan Inc., both in the Seattle metropolitan area, donated $100 million to create the Allen Institute for Brain Science, in Seattle. The institute's first project, the Allen Brain Atlas, will attempt to map the genes that operate the mammalian brain.

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Jeffrey S. Skoll—$81.3 million to the Skoll Foundation. Skoll, 39, former president of eBay, an online auction site, gave five gifts of eBay stock totaling $81.3 million to the Skoll Foundation, formerly the Skoll Community Fund, in San Jose, Calif. Skoll's foundation, of which he is chairman, supports social entrepreneurship. Skoll also supports a separate entity, also called the Skoll Foundation, which shares the same mission.

Pierre and Pam Omidyar— $80.5 million to the Omidyar Foundation, donor-advised funds, and other nonprofit organizations. Pierre Omidyar, 36, founder and chairman of eBay, an online auction site, and chairman of the Omidyar Foundation, and his wife, Pam, 36, chairman of HopeLab in Palo Alto, Calif., which develops tools using digital technology to help children with chronic illnesses, gave $40 million to the Omidyar Foundation, in Redwood City, Calif. The foundation, established in 1998, supports programs on civic awareness and involvement. The couple also gave $40.5 million to donor-advised funds and other nonprofit organizations in 2003.

Maude Woods Wodehouse—$80 million to 14 organizations and schools in Hawaii. Wodehouse, who died in 2003 at age 87, bequeathed the bulk of her estate to organizations in Honolulu. The real-estate heiress left approximately $18 million to the Bishop Museum for its endowment; $18 million to the Punahou School, a college-preparatory institution, for faculty support and programs; $9 million to the Hawaii Community Foundation, for programs that help prevent child abuse and neglect; $9 million to the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii to support conservation projects; and $2 million to the American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific. Wodehouse also left $18 million to Seabury Hall, a college-preparatory school in Makawao, Hawaii. In addition, she left $6 million to be divided among the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association, in Honolulu; the American Red Cross, Hawaii State Chapter, in Honolulu; Christ Episcopal Church, in Kealakekua, Hawaii; the Daughters of Hawaii, in Honolulu; the Hawaii Lions Foundation, in Honolulu; the Hospice of Kona, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; the Institute for Human Services, in Honolulu; and the Iolani School, in Honolulu. Wodehouse owned a ranch on the Island of Hawaii and was the widow of Cenric N. Wodehouse, whose grandmother founded Victoria Ward, a real-estate company in Honolulu.

Priscilla Bullitt Collins—$71.1 million to the Nature Conservancy, CARE USA, and the Trust for Public Land. Collins, who died in June at age 82, gave $28.5 million to the Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Va. Collins told the charity to divide the gift into three equal portions, for preservation projects in the Pacific Northwest, projects elsewhere in the United States, and conservation efforts outside the United States. Collins also gave $28.5 million to CARE USA for the education of young women in developing countries. She also left $14.1 million to the Trust for Public Land, in San Francisco. She earmarked half of the bequest for conservation projects in the Northwest and half for use elsewhere in the United States. Collins had supported all three organizations in the past, giving about $4.4 million to the Nature Conservancy during her lifetime. The Trust for Public Land and CARE said she did not want them to disclose details of her previous support. Advisers to Collins said that, in addition to the money in the bequest, she had given more than $80 million to charity in the past decade. For 20 years Collins was chairwoman of King Broadcasting, now a subsidiary of Belo Corp., a media company in Dallas. She was the daughter of Dorothy Stimson Bullitt, the founder of King Broadcasting, which was sold in 1992.

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Phil Anschutz—$70 million to the Anschutz Foundation. Anschutz, founder of Qwest Communications International, in Denver, established a charitable lead trust with Qwest stock valued at approximately $70 million. For the next three years, the trust will distribute 36 percent of its assets to the Anschutz Foundation, in Denver, which supports arts, culture, and public-policy organizations. Any income or principal remaining in the trust at the end of three years will go to Anschutz.

Jackson T. Stephens— $60.5 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center; and a $20.4 million pledge of which $13.26 million was paid in 2003 to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Stephens, 80, owner and operator of Stephens Inc., a brokerage house in Little Rock, Ark., gave $48 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in Little Rock. The gift will finance a building at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute at the university, purchase equipment for the institute, and support programs and research. Stephens also gave $10 million to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, in Annapolis, Md., for renovations at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium there. The gift is the largest ever to the naval academy. Stephens graduated from the academy in 1947. Stephens also gave $2.5 million to St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, in Little Rock, to purchase equipment for the health center and to support completion of the hospital's new heart center. He also pledged $20.4 million to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to construct a center for the university's athletics department and basketball and volleyball teams. The center is scheduled to open in spring 2005.

Frank Porter—$60 million to the Cleveland Foundation. Porter, a car-dealership owner and real-estate developer who died in June 2002 at age 82, left an estate worth at least $60 million to the Cleveland Foundation. The bequest consists of securities, a modern-art collection, privately held companies, and real estate in California, Idaho, Ohio, and the Virgin Islands. His wife, Nancy, died in 1996 at age 75. The foundation says it will sell the estate to make grants that benefit residents of the metropolitan Cleveland area.

Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton—$55 million to Arizona State University. Ira Fulton, 72, chief executive of Fulton Homes, in Phoenix, and his wife, Mary Lou, 70, gave $50 million to Arizona State University, in Tempe. The gift will be used to increase financing for student and faculty research, to recruit faculty, and to support student programs at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. The couple also donated $5 million to Arizona State's College of Education to endow a faculty chair, provide fellowships and scholarships, and support faculty research projects. Ira Fulton attended Arizona State but never graduated.

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Oprah Winfrey— $50.7 million to the Oprah Winfrey Foundation. Winfrey, 50, chairman of Harpo, a production company, host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, and founder and editorial director of O, the Oprah Magazine, gave $50.68 million to the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, in Chicago. Winfrey's foundation supports educational programs and programs that help women and children.

Charles Simonyi—$47 million to the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences. Simonyi, 55, founder and chief executive of the Intentional Software Corp., in Bellevue, Wash., and a former software engineer at the Microsoft Corp., gave $47 million in Microsoft stock to establish his foundation, the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, in Bellevue. The foundation will support the arts, sciences, and education. The foundation sold $8 million of the Microsoft stock last year to help fulfill a $10 million pledge to the Seattle Symphony, to be paid over the next five years.

Arthur M. Blank—$37.6 million to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Blank, 61, co-founder and former chief executive of Home Depot and owner and chief executive of the Atlanta Falcons football team, gave $37.6 million to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The foundation, established in 1995, supports arts, environmental, quality-of-life, and youth-development programs.

Lawrence J. Ellison—$35 million to the Ellison Medical Foundation. Ellison, 60, chief executive of the Oracle Corp., in Redwood City, Calif., gave $35 million to the Ellison Medical Foundation, in Bethesda, Md. The foundation supports research on aging and on global infectious diseases.

Reed and Carolee Walker—$34.5 million to the Oregon Community Foundation, University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Salvation Army. Reed Walker, who died in 2002 at age 77, and his wife, Carolee, who died in 1999 at age 66, left $32 million to the Oregon Community Foundation, in Portland. The couple also bequeathed $2 million to the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Madison, and $500,000 to the Salvation Army, in Medford, Ore. The gift to the community foundation will endow a fund that will make grants to charities that serve children and needy people in Jackson County, Ore. Reed Walker acquired much of his wealth through Anheuser-Busch stock, which he received when his parents sold their Kansas City, Mo., bakery to the brewery in the early 1940s.

Frances P. Bunnelle—$34 million to Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation Serving Coastal South Carolina. Bunnelle, who died in 2000 at age 95, left a $34 million bequest to the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation Serving Coastal South Carolina, in Charleston. Bunnelle, who lived on Pawleys Island, S.C., earmarked the funds for organizations in Georgetown County and set aside part of the money specifically for annual gifts to the Pawleys Island-Litchfield Rescue Squad, the Saint Frances Humane Society, the Tara Hall Home for Boys, and the Tidelands Community Hospice. Bunnelle's first husband, Charlie Peace, an owner of the Greenville News-Piedmont, died in 1958. Her second husband, Robert Ellsworth Bunnelle, died in 1988.

Herbert and Evelyn Axelrod—$32 million to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Herbert Axelrod, 76, an author and publisher, and his wife, Evelyn, gave a gift valued at $32 million to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, in Newark. Herbert Axelrod sold 30 Italian stringed instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries, including 12 Stradivarius violins and one Stradivarius cello, to the symphony for $18 million. The collection was appraised by an insurance company to be worth $50 million. The symphony, which received the instruments in February 2003, recorded the transaction as a $32 million donation.

Zell and Emily Kravinsky—$30 million to the Adria Kravinsky Foundation. Kravinsky, 49, a real-estate developer in Jenkintown, Pa., and his wife, Emily, 46, a psychiatrist, gave commercial real estate valued at $30 million to establish the Adria Kravinsky Foundation, in Philadelphia. The foundation will support the School of Public Health at Ohio State University, in Columbus. The foundation is named for Zell Kravinsky's sister, who died of lung cancer 20 years ago at age 33. Zell Kravinsky attracted attention in 2003 by donating a kidney to a woman he did not know.

Sanford I. and Joan Weill—$29.4 million to Carnegie Hall. Weill, 70, chairman of Citigroup, in New York, and his wife, Joan, gave $29.4 million to Carnegie Hall, in New York. The gift, which must be met by gifts from other sources, will establish the Weill Music Institute, which will support music-education programs. Sanford Weill has served as a Carnegie Hall trustee for 20 years and as chairman of the board for the past 12.

Marrs and Verna McLean—$28.8 million to Baylor University and Trinity University. Marrs McLean, an oil and gas developer in Beaumont, Texas, who died in 1953 at age 70, and his wife, Verna, who died in 1991 at age 98, gave $19.4 million to Baylor University, in Waco, Texas. Following Marrs McLean's wishes, Baylor University will allocate $6.4 million of the gift to the Baylor College of Medicine, which once was a part of the university. The couple also gave $9.4 million to Trinity University, in San Antonio. The gifts came from the Marrs and Verna McLean Foundation Trust, which was established in 1953. Mr. McLean stipulated that the trust be dissolved after 50 years.

Arthur Rock—$25 million to the Harvard Business School. Rock, 77, co-founder of Davis and Rock, a venture-capital firm in San Francisco, gave $25 million to the Harvard Business School, in Boston. The gift will be used to create an academic center for entrepreneurship. Rock is an alumnus of the school.